A pair of veteran left-handers will square off when the Chicago White Sox host the Toronto Blue Jays in the rubber match of a three-game series Thursday night.
Dallas Keuchel (4-1, 4.25 ERA) of the White Sox is set to make his 13th start of the season. He has earned victories in three of his past five outings, and he pitched well his last time out despite earning a no-decision as he limited the Detroit Tigers to two runs (one earned) on five hits in six innings last Friday.
Keuchel has 94 career victories, four of which have come against the Blue Jays in his career. He is 4-0 with a 4.78 ERA in six starts against Toronto while walking 15 and striking out 27 in 37 2/3 innings.
The Blue Jays will counter with Hyun Jin Ryu (5-3, 3.23 ERA), who has a terrific 59-to-11 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 64 innings this season. But Ryu is hoping to bounce back from his worst outing of the season, one in which he surrendered six runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings in a loss to the Houston Astros last Friday.
Blue Jays manager Charlie Montoyo said Ryu’s stat line against the Astros was misleading.
“Ryu was one pitch away from getting out of the trouble that he was in,” Montoyo said. “He gave up a lot of seeing-eye base hits and again, he was one pitch away, but (Houston catcher Martin) Maldonado got him with whatever you want to call that — a fly ball, (and) the wind took it. It’s still a grand slam, but he was one pitch away from keeping us in the game.”
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Ryu, who boasts a career record of 64-38 with a 2.97 ERA, will face the White Sox for the first time.
Chicago won the series opener 6-1 before Toronto answered with a 6-2 win on Wednesday night. The Blue Jays scored five runs in the final two innings as part of their comeback victory.
Randal Grichuk hit a solo blast, his 13th of the season, for the Blue Jays. Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Teoscar Hernandez and Rowdy Tellez added one RBI apiece.
Nick Madrigal had an RBI double for the White Sox, but he left after the seventh inning when he injured his hamstring while trying to beat out a ground ball. Madrigal put little weight on his leg as he left the field, and the White Sox are hoping for good news when he is re-evaluated Thursday.
Chicago manager Tony La Russa said it was too soon to know the extent of the injury.
“We just hope it’s not something that’s a big tear that keeps him out for a long time,” La Russa said. “We’ll keep our fingers crossed. He’s a big, big part of our club.”
Madrigal is hitting .305 with 10 doubles, four triples, two homers and 21 RBIs in 54 games this season. He was the White Sox’s first-round pick (No. 4 overall) out of Oregon State in 2018.
–Field Level Media